By late morning, the three of them stopped to rest—grabbing some food to recharge, and giving the horses water and feed.
"Yesterday, Ella mentioned Dadaupa Gorge," Jiang Bai said. "We'll be passing near it on the way to Dragonspine. I kind of want to take a look."
"Dadaupa Gorge?" Albedo blinked. "You've never been?"
"I know it exists, but I've never gone in."
Everyone knew Dadaupa Gorge was a hilichurl hotspot—an unknown number of hilichurls lived there. Any sane person avoided charging into a hilichurl nest just to get themselves killed.
Jiang Bai certainly hadn't been bored enough for that.
"Teacher Ella said there are three hilichurl tribes in there. I'm pretty interested in the Eclipse tribe."
The others were "Meaty" and "Sleepy." Only this one was called the Eclipse tribe. Even the name made it sound different.
Of course, those tribe names were human labels, assigned based on visible differences. "Eclipse" by itself wasn't that strange.
What really caught Jiang Bai's attention was the "Eclipse" those hilichurls supposedly worshiped.
Albedo thought for a moment, then nodded. "I don't know much about the Eclipse tribe either. Only that they appeared five hundred years ago. Before that, there were no hilichurls who worshiped a Eclipse."
"Five hundred years ago?" Jiang Bai frowned. That number felt… pointed.
His instincts told him something was buried in it.
"What happened five hundred years ago?"
"A lot of things," Albedo said quietly. "The biggest was the fall of the ancient nation of Khaenri'ah."
"Khaenri'ah?"
It was the first time Jiang Bai had heard the name.
He knew of the seven nations ruled by the Seven—but Khaenri'ah wasn't one of them.
"Yes. Khaenri'ah was a godless nation. Its lands lay deep underground."
Albedo knew quite a bit about Khaenri'ah. His creator, Rhinedottir, had been Khaenri'ah's chief alchemist.
She'd never acknowledged him as her son, but deep down, he wanted to call her Mother.
Khaenri'ah had already fallen by the time he was born, yet in the years he spent learning and researching at her side, she'd spoken of it often.
"There was a nation underground?" Jiang Bai blurted, stunned.
It felt like another piece of his worldview had just snapped.
"But underground space is limited. There's no sunlight—how did crops grow? And if crops can't grow, where did their food come from?"
In his mind, "underground" meant a big cave, a deep ravine, a network of caverns—stone overhead, cramped space, nothing more.
And yet… an ancient nation had existed there?
"No. You're thinking about it the wrong way." Albedo shook his head, studying Jiang Bai with interest. "I get the feeling your idea of what's 'underground' is different from ours. Tell me—how do you understand Teyvat?"
"Uh…" Jiang Bai thought it over, found a patch of soft sand, and formed a thin Geo rod to draw with.
"Do you have any concept of the universe—of stars and planets?"
So far, he hadn't met anyone who seemed to. Aether might, but they'd never talked about it.
Realizing Jiang Bai was about to explain something unfamiliar, Albedo told Klee to play nearby and not wander too far, then crouched beside the sand.
"My teacher once had a friend who was an astrologer," Albedo began. "According to that astrologer, the lights in the sky represent a person's constellation. And a constellation is formed from several destiny stars. Countless destiny stars together make the starry sky we see."
Jiang Bai blinked, blank.
Constellations? Destiny stars? Why did he suddenly feel illiterate?
"You don't seem to know any of this," Albedo observed.
"Not a clue," Jiang Bai admitted—then immediately found himself with even more questions. "So what does a constellation represent? If everyone in Teyvat has one, then what's yours?"
"A constellation determines fate." Albedo's voice stayed calm. "Mine is Princeps Cretaceus."
Using a twig, Albedo drew his constellation in the sand—lines connecting several stars. Then he extended the lines beyond the framework, sketching something like a baby in a bottle.
Jiang Bai stared at it. It did resemble the constellations he knew.
But the infant-in-a-bottle motif felt… on the nose. "Does it mean something?"
"You know I'm the product of alchemy." Albedo's gaze was steady. "Alchemy has four stages: nigredo, albedo, rubedo, and citrinitas."
As he learned more and more about Jiang Bai's secrets, Albedo, in return, had shared plenty of his own.
In a way, they'd grown closer than most—after all, they'd already earned the achievement of being secret-sharing partners.
"Nigredo is the origin—the initial state. Albedo is the beginning of change, impurities removed. Rubedo is refinement."
"Citrinitas is the final stage. Something without value finally finds its meaning… and becomes gold."
As Albedo spoke, he scooped up a handful of sand and demonstrated each stage along with his explanation.
By the time he finished, the sand in his palm had turned to gold.
Jiang Bai picked up the gleaming lump, squeezed hard to make sure it was real, then—right in front of Albedo—slipped it into his pocket.
Gold wasn't used as currency here, but it still glittered. That was value enough.
"Can a constellation change?" Jiang Bai asked.
"I don't know." Albedo lifted his eyes to the sky. It wasn't dark yet—the stars were hidden under the sun's blaze.
"My teacher once told me the starry sky we see is false."
"False?" Jiang Bai went even blanker.
Even the sky was fake? What was wrong with this world?
"I don't understand it either." Albedo smiled, a little helpless. "Before my teacher left, her final assignment to me was: Reveal the truth of this world, and the meaning of this world. I've made no real progress. But after meeting you and Aether… I think that question will finally start moving."
"I'm not much of a researcher," Jiang Bai said, dragging the conversation back by force. "But if I can help, I will. Anyway—back to the point."
They'd started with stars and space, and somehow detoured into constellations instead.
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T/N: 4 chaps meeting this weeks quota, last week it was 7dtd this week it was tomodachi life........ teehee
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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